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[datamage]

I guess I'll be getting the MSI Lightning after all. After receiving the Asus Matrix, the card appears to have been used. There happens to be a review for it @ newegg with another person who had the same experience. Called up Asus, ran the S/N by them, and they said the warranty for the card started 2 weeks ago..

Anyhow, newegg took care of me. RMA was setup quickly, received a prepaid label for shipping, as well as a reimbursement for the initial shipping. Didn't want to take a risk with a replacement, so I'm just gonna order the MSI card. Ah well.

 

[Smokey]

Can someone who has used both a Asus DirectCU II GTX580 and MSI Lightning GTX580 (Smokey?) tell me if there's a big noise difference between the two.
Also is there any benefit in going with the same brand mobo and graphics card (e.g Asus GTX 580 and asus p67 mobo)?

The Asus is quieter and a little bit cooler under load. When idle both are extremely quiet. You trade more performance and OC ability for a little more noise with the Lightning. It's not until the fans get in the 50%+ range that you can hear them. To be honest though when gaming I don't even notice the noise of the card. Running the Heaven benchmark is usually the only time I notice since I usually mute the music that plays during the benchmark.

There is no tangible benefit for going with same brand mobo and graphics card (that I know of).

 

[Spectacular Dr Dawg]

The Asus is quieter and a little bit cooler under load. When idle both are extremely quiet. You trade more performance and OC ability for a little more noise with the Lightning. It's not until the fans get in the 50%+ range that you can hear them. To be honest though when gaming I don't even notice the noise of the card. Running the Heaven benchmark is usually the only time I notice since I usually mute the music that plays during the benchmark.

There is no tangible benefit for going with same brand mobo and graphics card (that I know of).

Thanks for the quick response! I'll probably go with the MSI one then.

I'm looking at this mobo right now. Is this a good mobo or is there something better around the 200€ mark? I noticed that a lot of people are going with AsRock mobos. My brother told me that they aren't very good and that I should go with an Asus or MSI board instead.
I'm also looking at Coolermaster Cosmos 1000 case. But it doesn't seem to have any 2,5" bays. Is it still possible to put an SSD in it? Or is there some other case i should get instead since the cosmos 1000 is from 2007 (the case costs around 250€)?

 

[evil solrac v3.0]

Thanks for the quick response! I'll probably go with the MSI one then.

I'm looking at this mobo right now. Is this a good mobo or is there something better around the 200€ mark? I noticed that a lot of people are going with AsRock mobos. My brother told me that they aren't very good and that I should go with an Asus or MSI board instead.
I'm also looking at Coolermaster Cosmos 1000 case. But it doesn't seem to have any 2,5" bays. Is it still possible to put an SSD in it? Or is there some other case i should get instead since the cosmos 1000 is from 2007 (the case costs around 250€)?

it's possible to put an ssd in. most SSDs come with a 3.5 to 2.5 adapter plate to install them in the hard drive bays. you can also buy them if you don't get one.

 

[Spectacular Dr Dawg]

it's possible to put an ssd in. most SSDs come with a 3.5 to 2.5 adapter plate to install them in the hard drive bays. you can also buy them if you don't get one.

Thanks for the reply.
I'm looking at some CPU coolers right now. The store recommended a Thermalright Silver Arrow and Noctua NH-D14. The problem is that they're only compatible with theses sockets: LGA775, LGA1156, LGA1366, AM3, AM2+, AM2 but it was recommended from a i5 2500k which should be LGA1155 right? So does either of those work on a LGA1155 mobo, and if they do which is better?

 

[JayDub]

I asked this in another thread, but this one might be more appropriate.


Question: Games on consoles always have some form of "aid" to compensate for the lack of accuracy using a joystick on the gamepad. Knowing this, how is this handled when using a 360 pad for PC games? Does the game put in the same "aids" to compensate, especially for FPS games?

 

[Hazaro]

Thanks for the reply.
I'm looking at some CPU coolers right now. The store recommended a Thermalright Silver Arrow and Noctua NH-D14. The problem is that they're only compatible with theses sockets: LGA775, LGA1156, LGA1366, AM3, AM2+, AM2 but it was recommended from a i5 2500k which should be LGA1155 right? So does either of those work on a LGA1155 mobo, and if they do which is better?

1156 and 1155 have the same heatsink socket spacing. Either one. I prefer Noctua since their fans are better.
*Or if the overall cooler is better go with the SA then

I asked this in another thread, but this one might be more appropriate.


Question: Games on consoles always have some form of "aid" to compensate for the lack of accuracy using a joystick on the gamepad. Knowing this, how is this handled when using a 360 pad for PC games? Does the game put in the same "aids" to compensate, especially for FPS games?

Some games have this option available in options.
I can't tell you or think of a list.

 

[·feist·]

Thanks for the reply.
I'm looking at some CPU coolers right now. The store recommended a Thermalright Silver Arrow and Noctua NH-D14. The problem is that they're only compatible with theses sockets: LGA775, LGA1156, LGA1366, AM3, AM2+, AM2 but it was recommended from a i5 2500k which should be LGA1155 right? So does either of those work on a LGA1155 mobo, and if they do which is better?

The Silver Arrow is quieter, cooler, and costs less than the NH-D14. Its 2x140mm fans are some of the best 140mm units at any price. They're also PWM, so you can control them that way, or by altering voltage.

That said, the NH-D14 is close enough that it may come down to preference for you. The only air cooler that matches, or beats the Silver Arrow, costs more than the SA and the D14, and is not widely available yet.

Thanks for the quick response! I'll probably go with the MSI one then.

I'm looking at this mobo right now. Is this a good mobo or is there something better around the 200€ mark? I noticed that a lot of people are going with AsRock mobos. My brother told me that they aren't very good and that I should go with an Asus or MSI board instead.
I'm also looking at Coolermaster Cosmos 1000 case. But it doesn't seem to have any 2,5" bays. Is it still possible to put an SSD in it? Or is there some other case i should get instead since the cosmos 1000 is from 2007 (the case costs around 250€)?

ASRock has steadily improved over the years, and with the most recent round of corporate restructuring, they're offering increasingly higher end products. Just read some reviews, and/or look at owner feedback on whichever board you want.

The Cosmos is nice enough, but it's outdated, and not that great at cooling. Have a look at the case recommendation section of the OP. If you have a particular budget, need, or aesthetic preferences, I could make other suggestions.

 

[Spectacular Dr Dawg]

1156 and 1155 have the same heatsink socket spacing. Either one. I prefer Noctua since their fans are better.

Thanks.

Is there any difference in games between a Western Digital 1TB Caviar Black, SATA 3, 7200rpm, 64MB hdd and a Samsung 1TB SpinPoint F3 3.5", SATA 2, 32MB, 7200RPM. The Samsung hdd is about 30€ cheaper.

Does anyone here have Sennheiser hd 595 headphones and a soundcard? Is there any sound quality or bass improvement at all?

Are the samsung 2TB SpinPoint EcoGreen F4, 3.5", SATA II, 32MB, 5400 drives any good? I've heard that 2tb drives have high failure rates, especialy "green" drives, but I've seen people in this thread recommend the F4 drives.

Also is a 650w power supply good enough to power a p67 mobo + i5 2500k + MSI lightning GTX 580 + an ssd and 3 hdds + a soundcard + a blu-ray drive?

The Silver Arrow is quieter, cooler, and costs less than the NH-D14. Its 2x140mm fans are some of the best 140mm units at any price. They're also PWM, so you can control them that way, or by altering voltage.

That said, the NH-D14 is close enough that it may come down to preference for you. The only air cooler that matches, or beats the Silver Arrow, costs more than the SA and the D14, and is not widely available yet.


ASRock has steadily improved over the years, and with the most recent round of corporate restructuring, they're offering increasingly higher end products. Just read some reviews, and/or look at owner feedback on whichever board you want.

The Cosmos is nice enough, but it's outdated, and not that great at cooling. Have a look at the case recommendation section of the OP. If you have a particular budget, need, or aesthetic preferences, I could make other suggestions.

Thanks for your response. The cosmos is 250€ so something around that price range would be nice. I can go a little higher if necessary. I don't really have any aesthetic preferences.
Edit. A quiet case would be nice

 

[Jtrizzy]

Any advice on an HDMI 1.4 receivers for 3dtv's and 580's? Nvidia has some on their site but the list seems outdated.

 

[·feist·]

1156 and 1155 have the same heatsink socket spacing. Either one. I prefer Noctua since their fans are better.
*Or if the overall cooler is better go with the SA then

Typed my response before seeing this. Funny that we both got into fans.

Thanks.

Is there any difference in games between a Western Digital 1TB Caviar Black, SATA 3, 7200rpm, 64MB hdd and a Samsung 1TB SpinPoint F3 3.5", SATA 2, 32MB, 7200RPM. The Samsung hdd is about 30€ cheaper.

Does anyone here have Sennheiser hd 595 headphones and a soundcard? Is there any sound quality or bass improvement at all?

Are the samsung 2TB SpinPoint EcoGreen F4, 3.5", SATA II, 32MB, 5400 drives any good? I've heard that 2tb drives have high failure rates, especialy "green" drives, but I've seen people in this thread recommend the F4 drives.

Also is a 650w power supply good enough to power a p67 mobo + i5 2500k + MSI lightning GTX 580 + an ssd and 3 hdds + a soundcard + a blu-ray drive?

1. F3 is faster, ultimately negligible.
2. Try the main headphone thread.
3. I've had 2TBs falter from different vendors, but WD Greens may have more issues than most.
4. Yes. Just don't buy a cheap PSU.

Thanks for your response. The cosmos is 250€ so something around that price range would be nice. I can go a little higher if necessary. I don't really have any aesthetic preferences.
Edit. A quiet case would be nice

Did you go through the OP options? Some sites will mod your case for you with paint, cuts, sound dampening, etc. You didn't mention your country, or any restrictions on where you can order from, but these should be in that range. 5 quickies: Cubitek Magic Cube 3HDD/8HDD, Lian Li PC-X900, Cooler Master ATCS 840, Lian Li PC-Z70, SilverStone TJ07 (aging a bit, but good for water-cooling, and can excell at air if configured correctly)

 

[Spectacular Dr Dawg]

Typed my response before seeing this. Funny that we both got into fans.


1. F3 is faster, ultimately negligible.
2. Some PC-GAF members do. You can also ask in the main headphone thread.
3. I've had 2TBs falter from different vendors, but WD Greens may have more issues than most.
4. Yes. Just don't buy a cheap PSU.


Did you go through the OP options? Some sites will mod your case for you with paint, cuts, sound dampening, etc. You didn't mention your country, or any restrictions on where you can order from, but these should be in that range. 5 quickies: Cubitek Magic Cube 3HDD/8HDD, Lian Li PC-X900, Cooler Master ATCS 840, Lian Li PC-Z70, SilverStone TJ07 (aging a bit, but good for water-cooling, and can excell at air if configured correctly)

Thank you very much. I'm from Finland and I'll probably order from a local pc-store. I'll check out those cases.
Edit : This was the PSU I had in mind.

 

[Corky]

Thank you very much. I'm from Finland and I'll probably order from a local pc-store. I'll check out those cases.
Edit : This was the PSU I had in mind.

That's a mighty fine PSU

 

[Wolf Akela]

Sapphire HD 5850 Extreme for $150, should I bite?

I rarely see this card. Is it a fine deal? It's used only for a month, still 11 months of store warranty left, complete with receipts and everything. It's essentially brand new.

Without it I'd be looking at a $165 HD6850 or a $190 GTX 560 (non Ti) which are both more expensive from where I can get it. It's just that I wasn't planning on upgrading till mid October (for BF3) but this card is rare.

My card is currently a factory OC'd 9600GT. Gonna play at 1600x900.

Can't order online. I listed the GPUs I can buy locally that I'm aiming for + their prices.

 

[Corky]

Sapphire HD 5850 Extreme for $150, should I bite?

I rarely see this card. Is it a fine deal? It's used only for a month, still 11 months of store warranty left, complete with receipts and everything. It's essentially brand new.

Without it I'd be looking at a $165 HD6850 or a $190 GTX 560 (non Ti) which are both more expensive from where I can get it. It's just that I wasn't planning on upgrading till mid October (for BF3) but this card is rare.

My card is currently a factory OC'd 9600GT. Gonna play at 1600x900.

Can't order online. I listed the GPUs I can buy locally that I'm aiming for + their prices.

I'm sure someone will correct me on this but in terms of performance I THINK they stack up something like this

5850 > 6850 >= 560 non Ti

I think...

edit : scratch that apparently, it's still 5850 > 6850 but, the 560 is better than the 5850.

 

[Aguirre]

On a GTX 570

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - perfect 60fps
Team Fortress 2 - perfect 60fps (or ~200fps without vsync)
Fallout 3 - perfect 60 fps
Stalker: Clear Sky - I'd venture a guess at 40-60fps, maxed out. I think that's roughly what I would get in CoP (though mostly 60fps).

Thanks (and thanks to you other awesome guys, too!) Just ordered it... roll on Tuesday/Wednesday

 

[Spectacular Dr Dawg]

Another question:
What does Nvidias 3d vision kit contain?
I can save almost 100€ by getting the screen and glasses separately, so I'm wondering if there's something important in the 3d vision kit since it's such a big difference in price.
This is the screen I'm looking at.

 

[Bebpo]

What's the rest of your specs? The last result you got didn't seem right to me, so I ran Heaven on my machine with 4xAA, tessellation normal, 4x Anisotropy @ 1080p and I get 45.8 fps. This was on stock settings for me (832mhz on the core), and I think your Asus is set at 782mhz, but for a 50mhz difference in clock speed a 10fps increase doesn't sound right.

The 35fps you got is only 3 frames higher than I get when I run the test with tessellation at extreme and AA etc set to highest.

i7 @ 3.8ghz
6 gigs ram

Although it might be higher than 35fps. I've never let the benchmark finish because it's so freaking long. I just watch the first 4/5 stages and go with the fps from that.

 

[Corky]

Well whoever said AA wasn't really needed at 2560x1440 wasn't kidding, I can literally tell no difference between 2xAA and 32xAA in Just cause 2, heck I can even go far enough to say that the image loses some of its "sharpness" when using crazy high AA, atleast in this game.

 

[Dennis]

Well whoever said AA wasn't really needed at 2560x1440 wasn't kidding, I can literally tell no difference between 2xAA and 32xAA in Just cause 2, heck I can even go far enough to say that the image loses some of its "sharpness" when using crazy high AA, atleast in this game.

What, you got that high res monitor you were talking about?

 

[Corky]

What, you got that high res monitor you were talking about?

Yesum!

 

[Vodka Martini]

Guys I'm having a serious issue and I need help.

I have a 6950 connected via displayport... random flashes of artifacts... screen blacking out for 2 seconds or so...

These issues are pretty common with displayport. Try switching to a dual-link dvi connection.

 

[chaosblade]

I'm sure someone will correct me on this but in terms of performance I THINK they stack up something like this

5850 > 6850 >= 560 non Ti

I think...

edit : scratch that apparently, it's still 5850 > 6850 but, the 560 is better than the 5850.

560 is almost exactly on par with a 6870, which falls between a 5850 and 5870 unless new drivers have changed that.

 

[Corky]

560 is almost exactly on par with a 6870, which falls between a 5850 and 5870 unless new drivers have changed that.

Yeah gpu naming is a goddamn science in and of itself.

 

[Wolf Akela]

Alright, thanks. I'm getting the 5850 tomorrow.

I can't really expect much better performance on my current PC though. 2GB feels so tight now and X2 5000+ is starting to feel slow.

 

[coopolon]

Yeah gpu naming is a goddamn science in and of itself.

ATI was pretty good for awhile, but then with the 6 series they lost their mind.

 

[Corky]

ATI was pretty good for awhile, but then with the 6 series they lost their mind.

Can't wait for that worse than a 9800 pro, 8990 card.

 

[chaosblade]

Alright, thanks. I'm getting the 5850 tomorrow.

I can't really expect much better performance on my current PC though. 2GB feels so tight now and X2 5000+ is starting to feel slow.

5850 is a pretty nice card, just a bit better than a 460 1GB which still gets recommended as a budget gaming card. I have one and don't see myself upgrading until the 8000/9000 series or NVidia equivalent.

You might be CPU limited though, especially on BF3.

 

[Diseased Yak]

Yesum!

Sir, what exact monitor did you get, and do you like it? I'm using a 23" ASUS right now, thinking of upsizing....

 

[mtommy]

Damn, ran that Uniengine Heaven benchmark on my current card 9800GTX+ XFX overclocked edition.

At 1080p with 2x AA it's about 13fps, at 4x AA it's like 5fps.


Will be interesting to see the jump I get with the 580. Should be pretty massive!

My results.

 

[Corky]

Sir, what exact monitor did you get, and do you like it? I'm using a 23" ASUS right now, thinking of upsizing....

I too had a 23" screen the monitor I got now is the dell u2711 which is 27". I haven't really gotten a chance to sit down and play a lot but considering how much I loved my previous monitor ( dell u2311h ) I'm that much surprised as how much I'm liking this one.

I gotta make some adjustments to the brightness/colors to get it to look abit more "natural" , whatever that may mean. But I must admit that this is a boundary that I won't go back from so to speak, just like people who try out SSDs for the first time never want to go back to old HDDs, I won't ever go back from 2560x1440 /1600.

The past 5 screens I've used have been :

26" acer lcd monitor ( horrendous monitor, cost me a grand )
720p, 32" bravia tv ( don't remember exact model/make )
1080p, 42" bravia tv ( - " - )
23" dell e-ips(?) monitor
27" dell h-ips monitor

and I definitely feel like I've made a good upgrade each time.

 

[Red Blaster]

Parents are gifting me a new 1080p monitor, how does a GTX 570 handle that?

 

[TheExodu5]

Parents are gifting me a new 1080p monitor, how does a GTX 570 handle that?

With ease.

 

[TheDude108]

going from an Athlon II X4 @ 3.6ish to a 4.8 ghz i7 2600K made a massive difference with my Nvidia GTX480 ... GPU usage is always at 99% now (except the new Red Orchestra 2 beta for beta reasons) and there are no frame drops whatsoever

I don't think the cpu is a bottleneck, I KNOW the cpu is a bottleneck
Sandy Bridge murders any AMD currently out there, and the Athlon II is lacking L3 cache as well compared to the Phenom II which handicaps it further. Still a great cpu considering it was only €90, but a bottleneck for a 6970 class card.

Thanks for the help!

Tried the Warhammer Space Marine demo again and whilst the frame rate was very steady at 60fps, the section where you go into a control room and look out a large window onto a small battlefield, the frame rate dropped down to 40fps.

Checked the GPU usage and it was hovering around 40-50%.

Again is this due to the X4 640 being a bit too slow for the 6950?

 

[Gary Whitta]

Upgraded my rig from 4gb to 8gb RAM with a couple of 4gb Corsair Vengeance sticks I got from NewEgg for $50. That should deal with any performance bottleneck I might have experienced as I go into the game-heavy holiday season. Not expecting too many problems, Battlefield 3 is the big unknown I guess - really interested to see how that runs on this setup.

 

[Gvaz]

Parents are gifting me a new 1080p monitor, how does a GTX 570 handle that?

A GTX 570 can handle 2560x1600 just fine depending on the game and your tolerance with settings and fps.

 

[TheExodu5]

Upgraded my rig from 4gb to 8gb RAM with a couple of 4gb Corsair Vengeance sticks I got from NewEgg for $50. That should deal with any performance bottleneck I might have experienced as I go into the game-heavy holiday season. Not expecting too many problems, Battlefield 3 is the big unknown I guess - really interested to see how that runs on this setup.

What CPU/GPU you running?

 

[MisterNoisy]

What CPU/GPU you running?

I'm pretty sure it's the one they built on Tested - i5-760 + 5870

 

[Corky]

83C is still OK for a gpu right? Upping my res has brought my load temps from 72C to 83C

 

[Gary Whitta]

What CPU/GPU you running?

Core i5 2.8ghz
Radeon 5870 1gb

 

[TheExodu5]

Can someone who has used both a Asus DirectCU II GTX580 and MSI Lightning GTX580 (Smokey?) tell me if there's a big noise difference between the two.
Also is there any benefit in going with the same brand mobo and graphics card (e.g Asus GTX 580 and asus p67 mobo)?

Core i5 2.8ghz
Radeon 5870 1gb

I really wouldn't expect any issues in any game, given that. BF3, as you say, is a bit of an unknown at this point. I'd venture a guess that the game is going to want a high end dual GPU setup to maintain 60fps on maxed settings. On that same note, I'm sure a few compromises could be made to get 60fps on a good single GPU setup. We'll see. Hopefully the beta starts soon so we can get a better idea of how well it runs.

 

[Kadey]

Ram is so dirt cheap now. Should I add another 8GB? $50 for another pair is nothing. Does it affect say, watching streams and running them?

 

[chaosblade]

Ram is so dirt cheap now. Should I add another 8GB? $50 for another pair is nothing. Does it affect say, watching streams and running them?

If you have 4GB going to 8GB is probably worth it, just to future-proof. RAM probably isn't getting any cheaper.

If you already have 8GB it's not worth it, you won't gain anything unless you run virtual machines.

 

[TheExodu5]

Having 8GB would be nice. It's definitely going to future-proof your build, RAM-wise. Until games start rolling out proper 64-bit executables, I wouldn't expect 8GB to be outdated...and that's not going to be anytime soon.

I'd say within 2 years of Windows 8's life, you'll probably see a few games requiring more than 4GB of RAM. Within a few years, I'd expect it to become the norm. Really, though, by that point, today's builds will be fairly obsoleted anyways (we're talking 4-6 years, here).

 

[Gary Whitta]

Some of the most noticeable performance increases I've seen have been from RAM upgrades. I remember back in the day when I was first playing WoW on a 1gb machine it was awful. Upgraded it to 2gb and it ran so much better. RAM is such a cheap upgrade it can't hurt to have a little extra.

 

[Dennis]

I would buy a 4k monitor if I could.

About RAM, my one regret about my new rig is that I had to settle for 16GB. If 32GB had been an option I would have taken it in a heartbeat.

Even people who don't have my need for as much RAM as possible for Premiere Pro, After Effects etc. could still benefit from 16GB. Ramdisks people, ramdisks!

There is no excuse for not going 16GB.

16GB is the new 4GB entry point!

I think I am going to install Deus Ex to RAM to reduce load time to NOTHING!

 

[TheExodu5]

Some of the most noticeable performance increases I've seen have been from RAM upgrades. I remember back in the day when I was first playing WoW on a 1gb machine it was awful. Upgraded it to 2gb and it ran so much better. RAM is such a cheap upgrade it can't hurt to have a little extra.

Well, the thing about RAM is: if you have enough, adding more really won't do anything.
Going from 4GB -> 8GB will probably not have that big of an impact, but I can certainly think of a few titles that will benefit (Stalker: CoP Complete being one of those titles).

Really, considering you can get 8GB of RAM for under $40, I see no reason not to have 8GB of RAM today.

I would buy a 4k monitor if I could.

About RAM, mu one regret about my new rig is that I had to settle for 16GB. If 32GB had been an option I would have taken it in a heartbeat.

Even people who don't have my need for as much RAM as possible for Premiere Pro, After Effects etc. could still benefit from 16GB. Ramdisks people, ramdisks!

There is no excuse for not going 16GB.

16GB is the new 4GB entry point!

Oh, you!

 

[chaosblade]

I would buy a 4k monitor if I could.

About RAM, mu one regret about my new rig is that I had to settle for 16GB. If 32GB had been an option I would have taken it in a heartbeat.

Even people who don't have my need for as much RAM as possible for Premiere Pro, After Effects etc. could still benefit from 16GB. Ramdisks people, ramdisks!

There is no excuse for not going 16GB.

16GB is the new 4GB entry point!

RAMdisc is a legitimate point, but most people don't have that in mind when they talk about RAM upgrades. (Edit: I realize you're not being serious though.)

 

[TheExodu5]

RAMdisc is a legitimate point, but most people don't have that in mind when they talk about RAM upgrades. (Edit: I realize you're not being serious though.)

He's being half serious.

 

[Dennis]

What?

I am being totally serious.